Spirituality needed along with scientific progress: Satyapal Singh

For full appraisal of our lives, we must learn science of spirituality, involving soul and intellect, Minister of State of Human Resource Development (HRD) Satyapal Singh said here on Wednesday.

Speaking at the inaugural of National Science Day at the Indian National Science Academy (INSA), Singh expressed gratitude to scientists of the country and spoke for the need for instilling scientific temper among students.

"The other day I was saying... that the number of suicides in Delhi, Mumbai are more than the number of murders. It is the science which teaches us the cost of human life. Will science teach us this value of life? It won't happen till we speak about spiritual science. We should be taught science of intellect," the minister said addressing students and academics from the science community.

"So much science that world is becoming a global village. We are connected to the world but are getting disconnected with ourselves ... We must discuss the science of life... medical science is progressing rapidly. Will we along with it (medicine) discuss science of mind and intellect too?" he said.

The minister said one of the first condition for scientific temper is to "question yourself" and "let others question your belief"

The same minister had last month dubbed Charles Darwin's theory of evolution as "scientifically wrong", and had called for changing Darwin's theory in school and college curriculum as he argued there is no "evidence" that they evolved from apes.

"Our ancestors haven't mentioned anywhere that they ever saw an ape turning into a human being," the minister had then said.

His comments had elicited opposition from scientists across the board and INSA, along with other top two science academies of the country, had issued a statement arguing that implementation of what minister said would be a "retrograde step" and evolution theory was "well established".

National Science Day is celebrated on every February 28 to mark the discovery of 'Raman Effect' by Nobel Prize winning Indian physicist C.V. Raman.

--IANS

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